Cursed Technique Lapse: "Blue"

Not long afterward, at Renchoku Girls' Academy.

Satoru Gojo's slightly irritated voice came through the phone's earpiece. Even over the connection, it was easy to imagine the pout on his face.

"Tch, security here really is lax. That girl actually went to class? Are you kidding me?"

"Don't put it like that, Satoru."

On the other end of the call, Suguru Geto stood in the chapel's shadows, his voice gentle but carrying a barely perceptible sigh.

"She might have stubbornly insisted that she 'wanted to assimilate as soon as possible,' but once that moment comes, she'll become nothing more than a foundation for Master Tengen, buried forever within the barriers beneath Jujutsu High. She'll never see her friends or family again... Let her spend her last moments in this world however she likes. That's part of our mission, too."

Standing beside Suguru Geto, Misato Kuroi unconsciously clenched the hem of her maid apron at his words, her voice a little dry.

"Miss Riko has no family. There was an accident when she was very young, and I've been looking after her daily needs ever since. So at least let her spend a little more time with her friends-"

Before Misato Kuroi could finish expressing the sorrow of their impending separation, Suguru Geto turned toward her. Sunlight streamed through the stained glass onto his face as he gave her a reassuring smile.

"In that case, aren't you her family?"

"..."

Misato Kuroi froze. Looking at the boy before her, whose eyes were always narrowed and who was gentle to a fault, she felt warmth well up in her heart.

"Yes."

Satoru Gojo heard their exchange over the phone and naturally had nothing more to say.

"Tch, do whatever you want."

Even though you still disagreed with how safe this approach was, you could only quietly accept the arrangement. That was the mission, after all.

Returning to the mission, Satoru Gojo asked a question.

"Geto, you sent cursed spirits out to keep watch, right?"

"Yes. I can't share their vision like Miss Mei, but I'll still notice immediately if anything unusual happens. This is bad..."

"What happened?"

"Two cursed spirits have been exorcised. Get to Riko, Satoru, Shunchen. Hurry."

The sound of running came from Suguru Geto's end before he hung up. You and Satoru Gojo took two different routes toward Riko.

Soon, an elderly curse user wearing glasses appeared before you, with a low-level shikigami beside him.

Using Phantom Parade's cursed energy analysis and the information you had observed, you quickly deduced that his technique was probably some kind of inferior summoning technique similar to Cursed Spirit Manipulation.

Judging by his old-fashioned clothing and manner, you ruled out the possibility that he belonged to Q, whose members knew nothing but indiscriminate bombardment.

"Looks like a curse user hired by the Time Vessel Association..."

You reached a conclusion.

He had clearly recognized your black Jujutsu High uniform, too. He adjusted his glasses, two talismans inscribed with vermilion curse markings held between his fingers, while the shikigami at his side growled threateningly.

"Oh! That uniform... Young people these days really are frightening."

As you sped up your analysis of his cursed technique to gather information, you kept your eyes fixed on him and the cursed spirit and spoke.

"If you stop now, I can pretend I never saw you. At your age, throwing your life away over something like this isn't worth it, is it?"

The elderly curse user chuckled and answered.

"That won't do. I'm not that old, either, but as long as you're alive, you need money. Even if it's to buy a coffin, the more expensive, the better."

You could feel his clouded eyes sizing you up, trying to determine information about your cursed technique.

That was exactly the effect you wanted.

Rather than use your cursed technique outright, you simply drew Asagirimaru and took a fighting stance.

Just as you had expected, the old man's brow furrowed slightly when he saw you draw your sword instead of using your cursed technique.

For jujutsu sorcerers, the unknown was the most dangerous thing. The longer you refrained from using your cursed technique, the more wary he became of your hidden trump card.

But he made the same choice you did, drawing a sharp short blade from his clothes and taking a fighting stance as well.

It was like a showdown between cowboys in a Western. All you needed was a starting signal, and you would immediately begin fighting to the death.

That signal came from the shikigami beside the elderly curse user.

Its cheeks suddenly bulged, and it spat a large, filthy, dark-green ball of cursed energy at your face like a cannonball! The battle erupted in an instant.

Using Phantom Parade's cursed energy analysis, you easily sensed the movements and attacks of the elderly curse user and his two shikigami.

You pushed off the ground and easily dodged the corrosive ball of cursed energy.

At the same time, the elderly curse user moved.

He lived up to his experience as a curse user. Taking advantage of the momentary stiffness as you dodged, he thrust the short dagger in his hand straight toward the blind spot beneath your ribs like a viper flicking its tongue!

The clash of metal rang out.

Asagirimaru precisely blocked the dagger. The force transmitted through the blade surprised you a little. Reinforced with cursed energy, this old man's body was actually a match for a young person's.

Just as the elderly curse user thought that he could soon defeat you with his shikigami's attacks as long as he kept you pinned down like this-

He suddenly felt a powerful suction at his chest, so strong that he momentarily lost control of his body.

"What...?"

Just like that, the elderly curse user's body slammed straight into Asagirimaru in your hand. The cursed-energy-infused blade sliced through the cursed energy protecting his body without resistance, piercing his flesh with a dull sound that set one's teeth on edge.

Then you turned your wrist and delivered a rather beautiful Kesa Slash.

The blade flashed, leaving a wound so deep it exposed bone across the old man's chest. Crimson blood gushed like a fountain, instantly staining the corridor floor a glaring scarlet.

"Cough... pfft..."

The old man staggered and collapsed into a seated position, the light rapidly fading from his eyes.

With the sorcerer himself grievously wounded, the two shikigami that had still been flailing in midair let out a mournful cry and dissolved into black smoke.

That was the strike you had delivered with Cursed Technique Lapse: "Blue," replicated through Phantom Parade.

Replicating Limitless's automatic defense required calculations as precise as those of the Six Eyes. You couldn't do that.

But Cursed Technique Lapse: "Blue" was fundamentally "convergence" and "attraction." As long as you compressed its range to within half a meter of your palm, abandoning precision in pursuit of nothing but explosive gravitational pull, it became the strongest close-combat control technique.